HUSKS, in Latin, Siliquæ, Shells or Husks of Peas or Beans. The prodigal Son, oppressed with want, and pinched with Syr. Arab. Grot. Hammond. Cleric. Bochart, &c.hunger, desired to feed on the Husks, that were provided for the Hogs. But the most learned Interpreters are of opinion, that the Greek Keratia signifies Carob-beans, the fruit of a tree growing in Egypt, and bearing the same name. There was a sort of wine or liquor of great use in Syria drawn from it, and the lees of it were given to the Hogs. The Greeks and Latins both mention these Carob-beans by the name of Ceratia; and Pliny, as well as the Vulgate, calls them Siliquæ.
This fruit is very common in Palestine, Greece, Italy, Provence, and Barbary: it is suffered to ripen and grow dry upon the tree; the poor feed upon it, and the cattle are fattened with it. The Carob-tree is of a middle size, full of branches, and abounding with round leaves of an inch or two in diameter. The blossoms of it are little red clusters, with abundance of yellowish stalks. The fruits of it are flat cods from half a foot to fourteen inches long, and an inch and an half broad: they are brown a-top, sometimes crooked, composed of two Husks, which are separated by membranes into several cells, wherein are contained flat seeds something like those of Cassia. The substance of these Husks is filled with a sweetish honey kind of juice, not very unlike that of the pith of Cassia. It is in all probability the crooked figure of this Husk which has occasioned its being called in Greek, Keratia, which signifies little Horns.